Monday, February 1, 2016

This is What I’ve Wanted All My Life

courtesy of t-shirtguru.com

So spoke my
son when he unwrapped the Popeye shirt my parents had given him. Only
four-years-old “all his life” had not been a very long time but his grandparents
certainly enjoyed his enthusiasm. They’d always been creative gift-givers.
Almost ten years earlier they’d given me a present that I’d also been wanting
all my life. Well, at least since the Six Day War five years earlier. In 1972,
at the age of eighteen, they presented me with a trip to Israel.

It was a seven-week
vacation filled with travelling and hiking, sightseeing and working, learning
and growing. During the last couple of
days the organizers decided it was time for some serious workshops. Although
usually a good student, I cannot tell you anything about those sessions except
that I was hot and tired and more focused
on buying presents to take home than anything the lecturers were telling
me. What I do remember was the trip to Jericho we took at the end. The goal of
that outing, I assume, was to illustrate some of the many facts we’d been
presented with.

Israeli
buses weren’t air-conditioned then. Jericho was one of the lowest spots on
earth, nearly eight hundred feet below sea level. Although we saw some palm
trees the spot we disembarked was totally devoid of any shade. I’d just
finished my first year of college in the Arizona desert but nothing had
prepared me for the scorching heat.

Worse than
the high temperature was seeing what looked like mud huts that apparently
served as homes. Gathered outside the
shelters were Arab families. Any description I can try to write would be
colored by what I know today. Suffice it to say that the conditions were
appalling. So much so that one of the
girls in our group began screaming at the guide.

“How can you
let them live like this?”

The guide
remained calm. Looking back I’m sure this girl’s reaction was exactly what he
wanted.

“Israel did NOT make this refugee camp. Jordan
did with the help of the UN. In 1948 when Israel became a state we begged the
Arabs to stay and live in peace. Arab
leaders told their people to flee and shortly the Jews would be pushed into the
sea and they’d go back home. In the
meantime the refugees lived in camps like this in Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. With the
end of The Six Day War we inherited many of the Jordanian and Egyptian camps
and we’re working as fast as we can to improve the conditions.”

The
hysterical girl wasn’t satisfied with his explanation and began handing out
money to the children. Others followed suit. Honestly, I don’t remember if I
joined in or not but I do know whatever amount was distributed that day was a
drop in the bucket to all that was needed.

With all the
oil money the Arab world had at that time I still do not understand how they
continued to let their brethren falter in that desert hellhole. The explanation
I was given is that the Arab heads wanted to use their unfortunate brothers as a
public-relations tool to make Israel look bad. They repeatedly rejected Israel’s
efforts to close down the camps and resettle their occupants. For the powers-that-be
in the Arab world keeping the refugees an obstacle to peace was in their best interest.
Sadly, that plan has been so successful that today we have world
leaders making excuses for Arab terrorism.

If only the Arab
sheikhs and rulers would have wanted a solution to the refugee problem as badly
as my son wanted his Popeye shirt. If only they would have desired peace as
much as I wanted my trip to Israel. If only, if only, if only…The situation is
so grim and, yet I have not lost hope.

The Jewish people
are nudniks. Every day we beg HaShem for peace. We request it from Him when we
pray morning, afternoon, and evening. We implore Him after eating bread. We beseech Him before we go to sleep at night.
We know that sooner or later, just as my parents bought my son a Popeye shirt and
gave me a trip to Israel, the time will be right and our Father in heaven will
answer our pleas. We will have true peace. After all, it’s something we’ve
wanted all our lives.

2 comments:

another comment: the people in those refugee camps don't want to live where we are in yishuv communities. they want to go back to where they lived before the war INSIDE THE GREEN LINE. in the end i've realized we're all pawns for the powers that be and just thank the One Above that He's taking care of us and running the show and pray that He'll always be on our side.

Aim of Blog

Emunah, faith in God, does not mean believing only good things will happen; it means believing that whatever God does is for the best. I wrote these words at a time when drive-by shootings and suicide bombers had become almost weekly, if not daily, tragedies. Now, more than ten years later, the words are no less true. Whatever HaShem does is for the best. It is my hope to post articles, advice, and homey stories everyweekwhich will reinforce this fact. And now, a special thanks to:

Batya Medad, my neighbor and experienced blogger. Without her I would never have been able to set up

About Me

Born in Wichita, Kansas, I became a Baalat Teshuva, newly religious, in Phoenix, Arizona while attending ASU. After twelve years of marriage my husband and I made Aliyah with five children and settled in Shilo in the heart of Israel. Two more children joined the family as have daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, Baruch HaShem. My favorite past times are learning, sewing, hiking, reading, cooking, baking, enjoying my family and friends, and, of course, writing. My first novel, Sondra’s Search, was published in 2007 and I am working on the sequel.